Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-09-14
on SLEEPLESSNESS.
A BRIEF MEDICAL LECTURE IN AN
ELEVATED CAR.

A Physician Discourses Of Insomnia and
1t. Cau.es. and Gives Some Good Ad-
vice-SeveraI Popular Notions shown
to be Erroneous.
Two men were in a. elevated car on
their way down town To business. The
man next to the reporter turned to his
neighbor with the question:
did you sleep any last mighty
mo: did you''
81 did. about three hours. When
woke up felt more tired than when lay
dow Il. >"
YES. it's pretty hard this summer for
people who have To stay in the broiling
city. But from all hear, the folks in
the country are not doing much better.
Ny wife's letters are full of mosquitoes
and sleeplessness.
'Gentlemen," broke in man with
gold trimmed spectacles, who looked the
physician every inch of him, and around
the corners Of whose bearded mouth a
humorous smile had been fitting during
the dialogue. this talk Of sleeplessness
proves how seldom people will take a
medical mans advice, or even ask for it.
It's SO simple To induce sleep, with very
little trouble, that every man of intelli-
gence can obtain it unless he be very
sick man indeed"
"Well, sir" rejoined the last speaker
''if You will crafty our curiosity that far,
tell us your remedy"
"As to mosquitoes my advice is: Kill
them before you go 10 bed. Sleep where
there is current Of air and have a mus
quito netting around the bed, but leave
yourself plenty of breathing space. II
suffering much from the heat, take q
cooling bath before retiring | find, how
ever, that this talk Of sleeplessness comes
in nine cases out of ten from persons Of
an unduiy nervous temperament. They
fidget about and imagine beforehand that
they will not obtain sleep instead Of COM
posing their minds TO properly receive
| the soothing influence.
SEVERAL POPULAR ERRORS.
'If given at all to sleeplessness do not
| smoke in the evening. and do not excite
yourself Lie down with the firm reso-
| luton 10 sleep, and sleep will come quite
naturally, provided the body requires it.
There's the rub. A great many people
think there is cast iron rule as TO the
| number Of hours they ought TO sleep
That's all wrong Never try to sleep
| unless You feel tired and notice that your
system wants ~. Four hours of sleep,
under certain conditions, gre more ben
eficial to man than the proverbial nine
| hours. I've had many cases in my prac-
tice which have shown me the folly of
expecting so many hours of sleep night
| in and night out.
Its the same with sleep rs with food.
The appetite varies, and SO does the desire
for sleep Nature knows her business
| best, and when man cannot sleep he very
| often ought not to sleep. 4 few weeks
| ago q well known business man came to
me and wanted opiates to give him back
his usual dose OF sleep. | satisfied myself
pretty soon that it would be only doing
harm TO comply with his request. There
was nothing troubling his mind, and his
health was good. He simply had the
| notion that he didn't get sleep enough, and
had begun to worry about it. / gave him
| few simple rules to observe, and he sooI
had once more all the sleep that was good
for him without using any poisonous mar
| cotics.
Judging from my experience, the need
Of sleep is very different in different per
| sons, even among those of like habits ant
| equally good health know very activ,
business man. patient of mine, who re
quires but six hours sleep. while another
one needs all of eleven hours out Of tn,
twenty-four."
City hall and Brooklyn bridge,
shouted the guard, and everybod!
scrambled for the door. while the audienc,
murmured: Much obliged for the lecture
doctor New York Commercial Adver
| tiser